Evanston aldermen soon will vote on an ordinance that would allow the city to bar people declared “problem” pet owners from owning animals.
The proposal, a companion to the recently adopted dangerous dog ordinance, would make anyone who’d been convicted of multiple violations of certain animal control rules subject to being hauled into a city-run administrative adjudication hearing at which they could be declared a problem pet owner.
Pending the hearing, police could order the person’s animals impounded, and if the person was declared a problem pet owner, they could be barred from owning any animal in the city for up to two years.
Top: Alderman Judy Fiske. Above: Police Chief Richard Eddington.
At Monday’s Human Services Committee meeting, Police Chief Richard Eddington said the new ordinance would give police “some additional tools to call to task the owners who are creating serious issues — people who are not responsibly caring for their pets.”
Alderman Judy Fiske, 1st Ward, said the ordinance was modeled on one already adopted in Highland Park.
The committee, which includes five of the nine aldermen, voted unanimously to send the ordinance on to the full City Council for further discussion, with only a change from Alderman Jane Grover, 7th Ward, that the title be changed from “problem pet owners” to “responsible pet ownership.”
Related document
‘Problem Pet Owners’ draft ordinance
Help for chronic abusers
Yay. I can recommend as a primary target a hoarder in the ninth ward (look for the run down blue school bus in the driveway) with a million cats and so much stuff piled up in the house that it's a regular stop for the Evanston Fire Department trying to analyze how they can get in and out of the house in case of a fire. Can't say how many cats are there, although they seem reasonably fed. But they're everywhere, and probably not spayed or neutered, either. Bad for the cats. Bad for the neighborhood.